Donnelly eyes re-election with 'Hoosier Highways' RV tour

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly is hitting the road, campaigning across the state ahead of November’s general election.

The Democratic incumbent is driving an RV through Indiana in order to push his message of bipartisan commonsense in Congress.

But he could face potential detours with voters in quite a few counties.

He beat Republican nominee Richard Murdock by six points in 2012’s U.S. Senate election.

And he did so in part by winning the majority of votes in just 26 out of 92 counties in Indiana.

In North Central Indiana, three out of nine counties favored Donnelly for the seat.

He garnered 63 percent of the vote in La Porte County, 60 percent in St. Joseph County and 53 percent in Starke County.

Meanwhile Kosciusko County was the second least popular county for Donnelly in 2012.

He gained only 28 percent of the vote there, 35 percent in La Grange County, 42 percent in Elkhart County, 44 percent in Fulton County, 45 percent in Marshall County and 46 percent in Pulaski county.

Winning support in those smaller counties is a priority for the campaign moving into November’s midterms.

“We’ve seen over and over again, suburban women are leaning toward supporting moderate Democrats,” said Kate L. Oehl, the press Secretary for Joe for Indiana in a statement to ABC 57 News. “We’ve launched a coordinated field office with the Indiana Democratic Party in Hamilton County in May. Now, Republicans will have to defend it instead of thinking they’ve got it in the bag.”